Projects & Research Positions Available

Below is a short list of projects available in the lab. If you are interesting in taking on postgraduate research and are looking for information on how the programs run at Western, please refer to our 'Masters and PhDs at Western' page in the 'Join The Lab!' Dropdown menu above. 

Positions Available

If you’re interested in making a general inquiry, please send a link to your website, your CV, and a recent publication or manuscript to k.umbers@westernsydney.edu.au.

PhD Scholarship available, applications due 30th June, 2024

Applied conservation and management of Norfolk Island land snails

This project is funded through the Australian Research Council's Linkage program with strong support from the School of Science, Australian Museum, Taronga Zoo, Norfolk Island Regional Council and other collaborators.

This PhD project will focus on determining their conservation and management actions for Norfolk Island's threatened land snails. It will require the development of applied conservation skills including working with diverse partners, and communicating recommendations to end users such as governments and environmental charities. The project will expand ex situ conservation activities including captive breeding colonies at Taronga Zoo, and in situ activities including predator exclusion fencing, pest control and habitat enhancement. This project will provide key outcomes for snail management and conservation and is an exciting opportunity to be part of the rapidly growing movement toward invertebrate conservation in Australia.
The project will be based at the School of Science with the opportunity to work with researchers rom the broader project's collaborators including close ties with the Australian Museum and Taronga Zoo.

MORE INFORMATION: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/schools/grs/scholarships/current_scholarships/current_scholarships/applied_conservation_and_management_of_threatened_land_snails_of_norfolk_island/_nocache

Research Project Ideas Available

Here are few suggestions but this list is not exhaustive. If you’ve got an idea or are keen to explore options, get in contact with Kate to discuss.

Antipredator defenses in the mountain katydid (Acripeza reticulata)

Mountain katydids are large, clumsy and comical but when disturbed they reveal a colourful, frightening defensive display (deimatic display) . They are also filled with toxin from their Senecio host plants which smells and tastes nasty. There are several open questions on this system including:

• What is the survival value of the mountain katydid's defence?

• How does the mountain katydid's defense change throughout development?

• How do the visual and chemical modes of mountain katydid defence interact to protect them?

• Are components of mountain katydid defence heritable?

Field Location: Australian Alps (Vic, NSW)

Bogong moth colouration

Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) are iconic Australian Alpine insects. They migrate to the alps from their natal lowlands to escape the summer heat before returning to mate and lay eggs. Do they us their colour to thermoregulate, and has it changed over the years? Be the person to find out!

Deimatic displays in praying mantises

Praying mantis are delicious tasty insects. They are often cryptic at rest, but many species have a remarkable display that they hide until the have been approached by predators. These displays should frighten predators and stop them from attacking, but to know whether they work we need to collect data on the following questions:

• What stimuli cause praying mantises to perform their deimatic displays?

• Do praying mantis deimatic displays successfully protect them from predators?

• Do different kinds of deimatic displays work against different predators?

Field locations: Anywhere!

Blue-tongue skink deimatic display

A blue-tongue is a sizeable meal for any predator and, like the mountain katydids and praying mantises, blue-tongue skinks (Tiliqua spp.) are known for their colourful defensive displays. And, just like the bugs, no one knows how the defensive displays work, and against whom they work. To address this question we are building ROBOBLUEY, a robotic blue-tongue which we will be deploying in the field to see if it can defend itself from wild avian predators. 

ROBOBLUEY will allow us to answer some of the following questions:

• When throughout the predation sequence is ROBOBLUEY's display most effective at deterring predators?

• Do the speed, angle, tongue extension and other parameters change predator behaviour?

• Does tongue colour matter to attacking predators?

Field locations: anywhere there are blue-tongues... 

Projects on the blue-tongues would be co-supervised by Martin Whiting, head of the Lizard Lab at Macquarie University. 

Mountain katydid conservation genomics: populations structure and refugia across eastern Australian mountains

Mountain katydids inhabit highlands from Cairns through to Hobart and out to Mt Lofty in South Australia. Sometimes they show up in lowland areas as well like Melbourne, Queenbeyan and Brisbane. Despite this broad distribution, mountain katydids are classified as a single species, in a monotypic genus. However, preliminary examinations of mountain katydid specimens in the Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra suggest otherwise. This project aims to determine:

• The genetic conductivity of Acripeza reticulata across their range,

• Whether there are any cryptic species within Acripeza reticulata

• Genetic signatures of refugia katydids have used in the past and may use in the future.

Field Location: East Australian high-country (Tas, Vic, NSW, Qld)

Overwintering in the blistered pyrgomorphs (Monistria spp.)

Most sensible insect species overwinter as eggs, but not this one. How and why does this little grasshopper survive the winter in across our highest (ahem, I know, but still) alpine peaks? 

Field Locations: East Australian high-country (Tas, Vic, NSW, Qld), plus other lowland sites for comparative approaches.

Colour change in the chameleon grasshopper (Kosciuscola tristis)

When their body temperature exceeds 25°C, male chameleon grasshoppers turn turquoise, as they cool down they turn black below 10°C. Questions to tackle on this system feed naturally into the conservation and climate change questions, are numerous and include:

• Their colour change is is driven by temperature, but does it function in thermoregulation?

• How does the colour change occur (what is the cellular mechanism)?

• Why do males change colour but not females?

Field Location: Australian Alps (NSW and Vic)
 

Genomic, behavioural and physiological resilience of Kosciuscola grasshoppers to rapid climate change in the Australian Alps

The Kosciuscola grasshoppers are an iconic Australian alpine endemic grasshopper. Members of the genus are short-lived (univoltine) and brachtyperous and in discrete, yet overlapping generations they inhabit the highest peaks of the Australian high-country. Over the past decade we have gathered data on their life history strategies, mating system, thermal tollerance limits, genetic structure, dispersal patterns and distributions. We are now in an excellent position to study their ability to adapt to rapid climate change in situ. This project therefore aims to:

determine the resilience of Kocsiuscola grasshoppers to climate change taking three broad approaches:

• genomics,

• thermal preference behaviour

• physiological limits.

Field Location: Australian Alps (NSW and Vic)